Wednesday 3 November 2010

A Grand Day Out

Not content with our nice quiet lives here in North Wales, being visited by manufacturers and picking up reviews on the kit from regular customers (as well as ourselves, obviously), we decided to take a trip up to Yorkshire to visit the last British Bootmaker: Altberg.



Based in Richmond, Yorkshire, Altberg have been going now for some years and we certainly got a family feel to the business. Most of the staff have been together for years, many having schooled together, and you really got the feeling that this is a company that takes pride in the products it creates.

Altberg are also unique in the Hiking boot world as being the only manufacturer to produce boots in various width fittings. For us here at Joe's, the Fremington has long been a popular boot, and it was interesting to see the process from start to finish. We were shown right the way from product design, through the factory floor, to boot fitting processes, again focusing on different widths.

Altberg are not that keen to emphasise their British base, preferring instead to rely on the products to sell themselves through their superb quality. I, on the other hand, still feel this is important to many people; with interest in environmental issues becoming more prevalent to many, and people wanting to buy closer to home, I was impressed to see a quality bootmaker based in the UK.

For more info on Altberg, or their boots, please feel free to either get in touch, or pop into store.

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